The Transformation of Hester in The Scarlet Letter
The Puritans came from England in the sixteen hundreds to break
free from the laws and regulations made by the king of England. In the new
world, they were able to practice their own form of religion. The Puritans
believed in God and His laws. "A Young Puritan's Code" was "Being sensible,
that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him
by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions so far as they are
agreeable to his will, for Christ sake." (Jonathan Edwards) And they had
over fourteen resolutions to keep. Although this is Jonathan Edwards
interpretation, it was most likely the way the Puritan lived. And they
probably obeyed it out of fear for their life. For sinners are in the
hands of a angry God.
Many years later Nathaniel Hawthorn was greatly interested by the
Puritans. This 19th-century American novelist, was born on July 4, in
Salem, Massachusetts, and died May 11, 1864. He was the first American
writer to apply artistic judgment to Puritan society. He was intrigued by
the psychological insight into the complexities of human motivations and
actions. In The Scarlet Letter, he expressed one of the central legacies
of American Puritanism, using the plight of Hester Prynne and Arthur
Dimmesdale to illustrate the conflict between the desire to confess and the
necessity of self-concealment. Hawthorne grew up with his two sisters and
their widowed mother, and an uncle saw to his education at Bowdoin College.
In 1852, Hawthorne wrote the campaign biography of Franklin Pierce, an old
college friend. The best of Hawthorn's early fiction was gathered in
Twice-Told Tales, Mosses from an Old Manse, and The Snow-Image. These
capture the complexity's of the New England Puritan heritage. Hawthorne's
writing had a wide range of influence upon people, such as Melville who
dedicated the great classic Moby-Dick to him. One of Hawthorne's most
famous novels is The Scarlet Letter. One of his characters (Hester Prynne)
is changed throughout the novel. Hester changes three different times,
from being a shamed woman to a capable women and then to a healer.
Hester Prynne emerges from the prison, proud and beautiful wearing
with. Having a heart blinded by love Hester choose to stay in the town and
In Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the reader meets the character Hester Prynne who as the novel progresses, one notices the changes in her character are very dramatic. The changes are both physical and in her mannerism’s. There are many significant events which took place before the start of the novel and during the novel. Some of these events that lead to this dramatic change include the affect of wearing the scarlet letter, the secrets which she keeps, and her daughter Pearl’s evil characteristics. By these events, Hester Prynne’s image is transformed throughout the time of the story.
"Lovely ladies ready for the call. Standing up or lying down or any way at all. Bargain prices up against the wall" (Boublil). The selling of one's body is consensual. When a woman decides to put herself for sale, she will be given the cold shoulder by her peers. Many women make the decision to sell themselves solely to provide for a child. The song "Lovely Ladies" from the musical Les Misérables, involves whores in France selling themselves to men in a Parisian back ally. The musical Les Misérables was based on a book written by Victor Hugo. One character in this book goes by the name of Fantine. She had a child out of wedlock to a man who left her and their child alone. She had to work to support not only herself but also her daughter, Cosette.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a female protagonist named Hester Prynne is subjected to public humiliation and alienation from the Puritan society because she committed adultery. This “sinful” act is further enhanced when her husband, Roger Chillingworth, comes to Boston, and Hester is forced to keep the secret identities of her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, and her husband concealed from the community. Over the course of her seven-year journey, she becomes more independent, more free, and a model of feministic power to the Freudian society that had once marked her bosom with the letter “A” to shame her. Hawthorne depicts the contrasting views of the patriarchal Puritan society, which is characterized by the town and Dimmesdale against
D.H. Lawrence criticizes Nathaniel Hawthorne’s portrayal of Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter in his essay “On the Scarlet Letter.” By focusing on Hester’s sin itself rather than its causes and consequences, Lawrence expresses his opinion on the role of Hester in the novel. Lawrence utilizes choppy syntax, biblical allusions, and a sarcastic tone to clearly reveal his objection towards Hawthorne’s depiction of Hester as a victim of Puritan society’s condemnation.
The heavy and somewhat unjustified law of puritan society is a heavy weight that is too nearly too much for any person to bare. Hester Prynne is one person to feel the full weight of the law, and not only is she damaged internally, but she also experiences a noticeable physical change, and Nathaniel Hawthorne does well to depict the overbearing weight of Puritan law through the dimming of Hester’s radiant beauty. The scarlet letter is a symbol of Hester’s sin, and is also a constant reminder, and it is also the very thing that defines her as a person in society. The effects of the letter are apparent from when Hester first stands on the scaffold, to when she gradually loses her gorgeous appearance over time, to when she removes the letter and her radiant beauty returns.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Puritan society deems Hester Prynne an unchaste woman, Arthur Dimmesdale a saint, and Roger Chillingworth a valued member of society. However, Hawthorne turns their interpretations around and suggests his own, ultimately presenting Hester as a broken woman with emotions and feelings; Dimmesdale as a minister who’s not very saint-like sin consumes him with guilt, and Chillingworth as an unmerciful husband who is the farthest away from salvation. Hawthorne’s interpretations suggest contrasting with the views of Puritan society, that Hester Prynne is a woman who takes regret in her actions, searching for holy redemption through the object of love that came out of her sin; Arthur Dimmesdale is a man of cowardice and weakness, a cannot own up to his actions of sin; and that Roger Chillingworth’s quest for revenge transformed him into a malevolent being. Hawthorne uses symbols, such as imagery with the colors black and red, to illustrate his characters as the embodiment evil and sin, as well as the embodiment of holy redemption.
A change is to make or become different. In the Scarlet Letter change is very evident in the main character Hester Prynne. Hester has undergone both physical and emotional changes that have made her more acceptable to the Puritan Society.
The Romantic era was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement which the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, was a major part of. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne negatively comments on Puritan culture from Hester's alienated point of view. Hawthorne shows Puritan society's assumptions and strict moral values not only through how how Hester is effected by her alienation but also through the town reactions to Hester's sin.
The portrayal of Hester Prynne in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, has been highly criticized, and many debate upon the angelic or sinful light that Hester Prynne represents. The author and critic, D.H. Lawrence, focuses on Hester’s sin in his critical essay, where Lawrence targets her, not as the victim, but as an ultimate sinner as she should be viewed, based on traditional Puritan values. Lawrence achieves his purpose that Hester should be viewed in a sinful light through his bullet-like syntax, negative and hateful diction, and his critical and disapproving tone.
Hester Prynne committed a crime so severe that it changed her life into coils of torment and defeat. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester is publicly recognized as an adulteress and expelled from society. Alongside the theme of isolation, the scarlet letter, or symbol of sin, is meant to shame Hester but instead transforms her from a woman of ordinary living into a stronger person.
The author of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, expressed ideas of love, passion, shame, and punishment throughout his 1800s based novel. Due to the fact that this novel was based in a Puritan time period, it brought many mental and sometimes physical difficulties for the main character, Hester Prynne. The Puritans solely believed in God and all of his rules. With that said, the author decided to illustrate the drama of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s adultery in order to describe the change in Hester’s attitude. Because of the many events, adversities and struggles, Hester had a complete change in attitude from shame and embarrassment to love, proudness and satisfaction.
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